Don,
use a plastic $8 clutch alignment tool to align your clutch plate so it will make installing the trannie easier. You need to put a yoke in the rear of the trannie to keep the fluid from leaking out and you can turn the yoke to help align the trannie gears with the splines in the clutch as you reinstall the motor. Sometime everything is lined up and it snaps together and sometime it's difficult. Pulling the motor with or without the trannie will work and you don't what is the easy till you finish. If you have someone to help, it will make it a lot easier.
Do it your way and next time you will have the experience to do it different if you want to.
Have fun
It a hobby and should be fun, most of the time.
See ya on the road
Dwight